Wherein a thirtysomething girl named Melissa Bastian finally stops avoiding the subject of fibromyalgia, and tries to talk about it productively instead.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Absenteeism...

I've been away forever, I know. But I'm married! The good news about the wedding is that I ended up married at the end of it, and I did get to have a little bit of fun in it all. There was a bunch of bad though, and it's a real bummer when I start talking about it, so I'll spare you.

We'll move on to more humdrum drama: insurance companies and how much they suck! A few months back my insurance provider, HeathNet, was bought out by United Healthcare - who from what I hear is doing its darnedest to become a near-monopoly, buying up everyone in its path. Somehow, through United, I now have Oxford insurance. And the kicker? NO ONE FREAKING TAKES OXFORD! Including my fibro specialist who I've been seeing for four years!

Awesome right? Stupid me, I figured that since my doc took my old insurance, he'd take the insurance from the company that bought them. No such luck. But as regular readers know, I've been kinda needing to find a new doctor anyway. So today the search was on: to find a new doc who both treats fibro and takes my insurance.

Jeez, was that one helluva dead end... at first. As far as rheumatologists in New York City who actually list fibromyalgia as a specialty, I could only find two others besides the doc I've been seeing. I called both offices - both flat out rejected my new "Oxford Freedom Network" plan. Then I cried, went through my everything-is-hopeless-dance, and had myself a little fit.

And as usual, then I kept right on plugging. I finally thought to get on Oxford's own website to do a search for doctors who take their damn insurance - that was somewhat helpful, as it at least provided me with a list of rheumatologists in the city who "participate" in Oxford. (Participate - that's the key word in this insurance nonsense you know.)

But the real breakthrough came when I found this website, FM/CFE/ME Resources. And indeed, what a resource! Using their page which lists doctors in New York who are known to treat fibro, I was able to correlate who takes stupid ol' Oxford (from the Oxford website) with who treats people like me. Fibro isn't always listed in those little blurbs about specialties, of course, so sometimes it's hard to know or do a google search; what are you gonna do, just start calling every rheumatologist in the city? This list of fibro-treating docs made it so much easier.

FM/CFS/ME Resources seem to have similar databases for a large number of countries, and within the U.S. they have all 50 states plus D.C. So if you're looking for a fibro doctor, this may be a good place to start! Good luck with your insurance company. ;)

I've made an appointment for April 14th with Dr. Steven Meed... here's keeping my fingers crossed. Now to try to get my records from my old doc - fun!